THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 1935. A GREAT ORGANISATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22519, 13 March 1935, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 1935. A GREAT ORGANISATION

Public achievement may be measured by many standards and be represented by diverse forms of human endeavour. The debt which our civilisation owes to the inventor of the incandescent light is great and incalculable. Equally important may be the contribution of a man whose vision has extended to recognising a need of humanity less assessable in practical terms. Among the social benefactors of our age Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell must rank high. The occasions on which the general public has the opportunity of expressing its sense of the merit of the great work that he has accomplished in less than three decades are not very numerous, and it is not necessarily in the demonstrations of the Boy Scouts, inspiring though these may be, that the most important significances of this organisation can be gauged. The jamboree and the rally show youth in array, competent and enthusiastic about their tasks, happy in service to an ideal, but the underlying influence of cheerful obedience to Scout Law is beyond appi*aisement. The Scout and Guide organisations would be of benefit if they merely engaged some hundreds of thousands of boys and girls throughout the world in useful disciplinary training for a few hours a week. The training which they receive has, however, wider and more lasting aims than that merely of occupying them during short periods in serviceable pursuits. It is possible, though the Boy Scout movement does not emphasise the point, that the first response to Lord Baden-Powell's organisation, when he founded it in 1908, was based upon its semi-military appeal to youth. The parades and uniforms and badges which to-day make the first visual improssion may still have a militant association in the mind of the tyro Scout. But an examination of the credo of the movement demonstrates that it is far from promoting militaristic tendencies. Loyalty to the King, a willingness to serve the country, are inherent in the ideals of Scouting, but Lord BadenPowell's aim lias always been to give youth a training for life, not for war. His vision for the movement, " to help the boys of whatever class to become ' all-round 'men, to give them ' character,' and to make them capable of looking after, themselves in whatever circumstances they are placed," summarises as satisfactorily to-day, as when the words were written, the real purpose of the Scout and Guide organisations. During the years since the Boy Scouts and, later, the Girl Guides were brought into being, Lord and-Lady Baden-Powell have been the constant inspiration of this great movement. Their leadership and time have been generously given, and their reward is provided in the vast parallel international organisation of young people that exists to-day as Boy Scouts and Girl Guides. It will be a source of real pleasure and satisfaction to the people of Otago to welcome these distinguished visitors once again, and their presence in Dunedin for a few days will give a tremendous stimulus to the activities of the Scouts and Guides of this provincial district.